Like Father, Like Daughter
In The Last Jedi, Poe Dameron starts a mutiny aboard the Resistance flagship and barricades himself inside its command center. Poe trains his blaster on the locked door, which explodes in a shower of sparks as people break into it from the outside. Then, through a cloud of smoke, a figure in white enters: Leia Organa, who uses a blaster to non-lethally stun Poe with a ray of blue energy.
In all these details, the moment closely mirrors the beginning of A New Hope, when Leia’s Rebel Blockade Runner is boarded by an Imperial Star Destroyer. Rebel troopers train their blasters on the locked door, which explodes in a shower of sparks as Stormtroopers break through. Then, through a cloud of smoke, a figure in black enters: Leia’s father, Darth Vader. At the end of the scene, Leia is non-lethally stunned by a ray of blue energy from a Stormtrooper’s blaster.
The scene in The Last Jedi pays homage to the iconic opening scene of the original Star Wars film, but puts a playfully subversive twist on it. By rebelling against his orders and taking over the Resistance ship, Poe believes he is doing the right thing, as Leia did when she rebelled against the Empire. However, when the door is broken down, it is not a fearsome villain in black who enters but an admirable leader dressed all in white.
The parallel between these two moments underlines that Leia has become powerful, like her father, but uses her power very differently. Vader and his troops storm into the Rebel ship and violently crush everyone who opposes them; Leia responds to Poe’s rebellion by subduing him without harming him, hoping to restore him to cooperation with the rest of the Resistance.
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Characters: Darth Vader / Leia Organa / Poe Dameron
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Concepts: doors / fathers / light and darkness / orders / power and weakness
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